Political allies of Vice President Joe Biden have concluded that he can win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination—even if Hillary Clinton enters the contest—and are considering steps he could take to prepare for a potential candidacy.

While Mr. Biden has made no decision about his future, people familiar with his thinking say, he hasn't ruled out a bid for the White House. If he runs, that could set up a titanic battle between two of the party's most prominent figures.

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Allies say Vice President Biden, visiting the USS Freedom in Singapore last month, could win the 2016 nomination.
Associated Press

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One step under discussion by Biden backers is to form a political action committee he would use to funnel money to other Democratic candidates, which could build goodwill for a possible White House bid, people familiar with the talks said. Meanwhile, Mr. Biden is preparing to attend a Democratic event in Iowa, which traditionally holds the first nominating contest, and to raise money this week for the Democratic governor of New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary.

Political allies of Vice President Joe Biden have concluded that he can win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, even if Hillary Clinton enters the contest. Colleen McCain Nelson reports on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.

Many prominent Democrats believe that Mrs. Clinton would be so heavily favored in a presidential primary that Mr. Biden and other party hopefuls wouldn't even contest the nomination were she to run. A recent poll in New Hampshire showed Mrs. Clinton leading Mr. Biden and other possible Democratic candidates by upward of 50 points.

"I don't see Biden and Hillary running against each other," said David Axelrod, a senior strategist in both of President Barack Obama's presidential campaigns and who worked for Mrs. Clinton's New York senatorial bid in 2000. "I would be shocked to see that materialize."

But Biden loyalists aren't writing off the idea. They say he has ties to elected officials nationwide, can attract crowds and money, and is a visible part of an administration that is popular with Democratic voters.

"He's the vice president of the United States of America! When you're the sitting vice president and you're running against anybody, you still have a chance," said one person close to Mr. Biden.

Mr. Biden raised $11.3 million in his 2008 presidential campaign before dropping out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

"There's definitely a path forward for him" even if Mrs. Clinton decides to run, said Larry Rasky, who worked on Mr. Biden's two previous presidential bids, in 1988 and 2008.

A senior aide to Mr. Biden said: "The vice president is focusing on being vice president and making the president's second term as productive as possible. Any talk of other future plans is complete speculation."

Biden allies believe he could run on some of the accomplishments Mr. Obama notched over two terms. If the economic recovery continues, Mr. Biden could run on the basis that he was a partner in combating the recession. Unemployment hit 10% in the first year of Mr. Obama's term and as of July was down to 7.4%.

"My guess is it would be a legacy campaign, continuing to build on the success they've had in the administration,'' Mr. Rasky said.

Mr. Biden finds himself in an unusual spot: a sitting vice president who would be a distinct underdog in a race to win his party's support.

Over the past half century, vice presidents who ran for president invariably captured their party's nomination. Al Gore did so in 2000; George H.W. Bush beat back a challenge from then-Sen. Bob Dole in 1988. Hubert Humphrey prevailed in 1968, and Richard Nixon easily won the GOP nomination in 1960.

The last sitting vice president to fail to win the nomination was Alben Barkley, who served under Harry Truman and lost out in 1952 to Adlai Stevenson. Mr. Barkley was 74, and his age was cited as a reason for his defeat.

Mr. Biden will be 73 when the 2016 election rolls around, but his handicap isn't age so much as the formidable presence of Mrs. Clinton, analysts say. A Clinton candidacy would have historic implications. If the former first lady and secretary of state won, she would break a gender barrier much as Mr. Obama broke a racial barrier in 2008.

"He's in the shadow of Hillary Clinton, and he always has been," said Robert Dallek, a presidential biographer.

So far, Mr. Biden has left open the possibility of running, telling GQ magazine this year that "I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States, but it doesn't mean I won't run."

Mr. Biden's itinerary shows he has an eye on the states holding early contests. On Thursday, he will headline a fundraiser for New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, the state's Democratic leader. Next month, he will speak at the annual steak fry hosted by Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat.

A Biden aide described the Iowa appearance as "a longstanding commitment after the vice president was unable to attend last year."

But others saw campaign considerations at work. Mike Gronstal, a Democrat who is the majority leader in the Iowa Senate, said of Mr. Biden: "He's got lots of important duties as vice president of the United States, and he decided to come out to Sen. Harkin's steak fry. I couldn't imagine how you wouldn't read something into that." Mr. Gronstal said it is too early for him to commit to a candidate.

One Democratic official who is close to Mr. Biden said of his inner circle: "Everyone involved in his world is engaged in taking all the steps that make sense to prepare for a run, if he does run."

If Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Biden run, Mr. Obama would stay out of the race, the official said, and express support for both. People with knowledge of the dynamic say Mr. Obama has signaled to others in the White House that he sees both as equals.

"There's some consideration given to making sure that the vice president's people aren't upset by anything," the Democratic official said. Mr. Obama's aides, for example, told Mr. Biden's team that the president's joint interview with Mrs. Clinton earlier this year with the CBS program "60 Minutes'' was prompted by his appreciation for the job she did as secretary of state, not about setting her up for a White House bid.

In private conversations, Mr. Biden's advisers are talking about steps to prepare for his possible entry into the race. A political action committee, these people say, would allow Mr. Biden to raise and disburse money to favored candidates in the 2014 midterm elections, cementing ties to influential Democrats around the country in advance of a possible presidential bid.

The political action committee would be similar to the "leadership PACs" created by members of Congress. It could accept individual donations of up to $5,000, said the people familiar with the talks. Mr. Biden also could use it to cover the cost of political travel, such as his coming trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, election law experts said.

If they decide to run, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Biden would need to announce their intentions in 2014, political analysts said. But Mrs. Clinton is thought to have the luxury of being able to wait longer than Mr. Biden, because a super PAC called Ready for Hillary already is organizing and raising money for her potential candidacy.

The pro-Clinton group has picked up some marquee talent from Mr. Obama's campaign team, including two experts in grass-roots organization, Jeremy Bird and Mitch Stewart.

"Everybody is ready to go," said Harold Ickes, a top strategist in Mrs. Clinton's 2008 campaign and an informal adviser to the Ready for Hillary PAC. "There are people who are ready not only to raise money for her but to give handsomely…But no one is doing anything until she gives a positive nod."

Some Biden backers say that if he ran and notched some early victories, he could crack the image of Mrs. Clinton as an invincible candidate.

Sara Riley, a lawyer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who volunteered for Mr. Biden's 2008 campaign, said that if Mrs. Clinton hasn't learned from her third-place showing in the state in 2008, Mr. Biden could seize a chance to build early momentum.

But Mr. Biden has hit hurdles in his own White House campaigns. He dropped out of the 1988 race amid accusations he plagiarized a speech and law-school paper. In 2008, Mr. Biden placed fifth in Iowa's caucuses, garnering 23 delegates, compared with 737 won by Mrs. Clinton. He soon quit the race.

We can have President Chompers. We can't. No one will be able to watch him. Remember how crazy he looked during the debate? He might beat W in terms of insane comments... And he might be stupider. Just want all the Dems to consider that.

Oh, c$%^! I'm registered as a Democrat in Pennsylvania. I can't be responsible for this trainwreck. I may have to change my affiliation.

They laugh at and make fun of Sarah Palin, Bachmann, etc., meanwhile they offer up Hillary and Biden who make Palin and Bachmann look like mental giants. I can see why the Left is pushing so hard for illegals to vote and to make voter fraud easier to get away with because next time around they are going to need a hell of a lot more than the fraud in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida to get either Hillary or Biden elected.

Would Biden have the temerity to go after Hillary Clinton's recent problematical tenure as Secretary of State (the Russian 'reset' that wasn't, the Benghazi disaster, subsequent cover-up and blow-back in Mali, the dithering over Syria, the al Qaeda that isn't on the run after all) plus her extensive record of dishonesty and questionable business dealings going back decades. He'd need to destroy her pretty completely to remove her from the race. In doing so he'd thoroughly antagonize her cult-like following, which includes many powerful and wealthy east-coast Democrats and Big Media, who/which care not a whit for any of the above negatives. He'd be destroying himself with these people. On the other hand he could be doing a great favor to other Democratic primary candidates and the nation as a whole which has never been sufficiently regaled with Ms. Clinton's true record.

Maybe some other Democratic primary candidate could plunge the knife into Ms Clinton's candidacy on Joe's behalf. Either way it would be like watching the final scene of a 'B' horror movie where the hero desperately struggles with repeated blows and much spouting of gore and blood to do in the head vampire, the death of which is always left a little questionable in case there's interest in a sequel.

As an ex-Republican I hate to deflate many of the die hard Republican reader's but you are going to have another Democratic president after the next election. The Republican party has done an excellent job of having cut its own throat.

If we do it may very well be fatal to the Republic. The nation is heading toward some form of corporatism; a neo-fascist paradigm in which Big Business and Big Government (including government unions) and elite academia work in tandem to run things, ostensibly on behalf of us proles who will have very little say in the decisions they come to and the choices they make for us.

This will not be the end, but the beginning of a new and terrifying world.

James, I think it would be hard for Biden to attack Hillary and still maintain his loyalty to Obama. After all, as a cabinet official, everything she did as SecState would have been coordinated through the White House.

True enough, but what's Biden to do? How can he possibly run a "positive" primary campaign with Hillary Clinton in the mix. Nobody will give two hoots about his "accomplishments". He'll have no choice but to go negative on Hillary - or not bother running, which is my guess at the end of the day.

Unless as I suggest maybe some other, suicidal, wanna-be Democratic nominee will do the dirty work for him.

On second thought - after reading a lot of the above comments - which were pretty much down on both Joe and Hillary - maybe the Ds game is to make "None of the Above" look like the best and obvious choice - at least for the WSJ vote!

The article has the line, "....a committee would allow Mr. Biden to raise and disburse funds to favored candidates in 2014...." Does this sound like buying support or what? But then maybe he needs all the friends he can find. Remember the Biden - Ryan debate?

Does Crazy Ol' Joe live in a parallel universe? No way he can run against Hillary, the Dems will have him drawn and quartered. He has NO chance - what does he think - he can run on all the failed polices and stagnant economy? He has to be suffering from an even more extreme form of narcissism than his boss, and that it humanly impossible - so it must be early dementia!

You are kidding. The reason is that they have more hoopla and parties at the taxpayer's expense. Never let a crises go to waste, they say. Since elections in this country have turned into just that, it's party time!

He could be very useful in that role for the Demograts. Let him loose all the trial balloons, run all the flags up the poles to see who salutes, suffer from all the slings and arrows (and errors), and then step aside when it is time for the real contender(s) to openly emerge unbesmirched and unwounded.

Scott Brown in 2016. Run Scott, Run!It's true he lost to Warren, but she was hand-picked and delivered by the Boston Democratic machine. Scott ran uphill from before the starting line. Historically Lincoln lost to Douglas and recovered to win the White House two years latter. I can see it, and the nation will too when they get a serious look at him.

Former Senator and TV actor Fred Thompson is now shilling for some reverse mortgage company. If old Joe doesn't make it to the finish line in 2016, he can always enjoy a second career as the TV spokesman for the Hair Club For Men. At least it will be the first honest job he ever held in his life.

"'My guess is it would be a legacy campaign, continuing to build on the success they've had in the administration,' Mr. Rasky said."

Exactly what "success" are we talking about. The country is arguably as polarized as it has been since the Civil War. Obama had not the brains to realize the country is closely divided. Instead he thought he had some sort of mandate for an extremely liberal agenda. Neither Obama nor Biden have any concept of, or experience with, successful governing.

Whose kidding who?? There will be feelers sent out, like this one, and when it becomes apparent that a nameless vagrant has a better shot at the White House Biden will decide he has other interests to persue!

"One step under discussion by Biden backers is to form a political action committee he would use to funnel money to other Democratic candidates, which could build goodwill for a possible White House bid, people familiar with the talks said."

Lol. In other words start buying support. Amazing how American sugar coats its slime

Regardless of what you think of Biden politically, he is someone who talks to people on both sides of the aisle and gets deals done. He was responsible for the last minute deal that salvaged some of the Bush era tax cuts with McConnel when Reid was happy to let them expire and try to beat up the republicans with it. He's done deals like this entire career, and is able to talk to anyone in Washington.

Does that mean he should be president? At this point I don't see anyone I'm excited to see as president, just a few people who are interesting; Biden doesn't make that list for me.

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